Abstract
The combination of antidepressive and antipsychotic (neuroleptic) medication is often
used in the psychopharmacological treatment of delusional depression. In most studies
of the treatment of delusional depression, tricyclic antidepressants have been used,
and very little has been written about experience with SSRIs such as fluvoxamine,
fluoxetine, or paroxetine. This paper therefore presents the preliminary findings
of an open clinical study in which 14 delusional depressed inpatients, consecutively
admitted to our Depression Unit, were given paroxetine combined with either zotepine
or haloperidol. It was possible to observe a significantly impressive decline in the
HAMD (24-item version) total score, of so-called delusional items (HAMD subscore of
items 2, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24) and of the subscore of remaining HAMD items over 21 treatment
days. There were no unusual side-effects.
